The Guardian. Britain set for coldest March since 1962

This weekend's great Easter getaway will be accompanied by some of the coldest March weather in decades, with temperatures in the UK set to drop to their lowest levels since 1962.

Met Office figures show that from 1 March to 26 March the UK mean temperature was 2.5C (36.5F) – three degrees below the long-term average.

This makes it the joint fourth coldest in the UK, in records going back to 1910. The coldest March in the UK was in 1962, at 1.9C (35.4F).

There was better news though for anyone heading to France by boat as French port control officers called off a 24-hour strike that would have severely disrupted cross-Channel ferry services.

P&O Ferries had warned its passengers to expect long delays on Thursday and on Good Friday, and there were fears of traffic build-ups on routes to the port of Dover in Kent.

But at 2am on Thursday, the stoppage – which would have hit ports such as Calais, Dieppe and Cherbourg – was called off following successful late-night talks.

Those now able to travel freely by cross-Channel ferry will be among around 1.7 million Britons escaping the continuing cold to holiday abroad this Easter.

From Thursday until Tuesday, a total of 600,000 people are expected to leave from Heathrow airport, 214,000 from Gatwick, 110,000 from Manchester, 110,000 from Stansted and 55,000 from Luton. Scottish airports, meanwhile, will see more than 100,000 departures.

The AA estimates that as many as 17 million cars will take to the roads over the holiday period, with the busiest periods expected to be Thursday afternoon and Good Friday morning.

But the organisation added that the roads may not be as busy as usual as the cold weather was likely to make this more of a "stay-at-home Easter".